Michael, the charm(ing and) offensive.

Yesterday, I came across the official back story of Thelma Baird, the lady from whom the Pattersons got Farley, the heroic dog who raised Mike and Liz because John and Elly had better things to do. Her first encounter between the Pattersons was when Mike unlatched the back gate (an act which baffled Elly for about a decade until she saw how April did it) and went into her yard with mayhem on his young but by no means tender conscious. He managed to wriggle off the hook by getting all weepy and telling her a likely story about how he wanted to give his Ma the purty red flowers. This, THIS, is one of the first examples of where is true genius lay: bullshitting women. His act of hucksterism not only kept him from deserved punishment, it also set up the death of the dog. If she hadn't fallen for his blatant insincerity, Elly would have been forced to bolt the gate. As it was, she thought and still thinks that leaving it unsecured is somehow lucky. His will to deceiving women into acting against their best interests doesn't stop there. He's managed to flimflam his way into getting Deanna support his ass, hoodwink Elly into thinking her opinion matters and even gotten Liz to interpret her childhood from his perspective. The only person who hasn't fallen for his con games is his mother-in-law, Mira. This is, of course, why she's a bad person: she won't drink the Kool-Aid.